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Hello and welcome to The Compost Bin. I'm Compostwoman and I live with my family in rural Herefordshire. We have nearly four acres of garden and woodland, all managed organically, which we share with Chickens, Cats, Guinea Pigs and assorted wildlife. We also grow a lot of our own food, run courses in all sorts of things and make a lot of compost!

I work as an environmental educator, lecturer, writer and Forest School leader at Moors Wood . I am a Master Composter and have spent the last 11 years as a volunteer Community Compost adviser with Garden Organic and my local Council. I offer talks and run workshops and events where we talk about compost, veg growing, chicken keeping, cooking, preserving and sustainable living. We also make crafts and have fun.

We try to live a more self sufficient lifestyle here, as best we can, while still having a comfortable life and lots of fun.To learn more about us click on the About Compostwoman tab and remember to click on the photos to make them full size!

Friday, 10 October 2014

The joy of the "everyday" life

After the excitement of the last couple of weeks, fun though it all was, it was a bit of a relief to settle back into the "everyday" routine. I am a home loving Compostwoman on the whole

Typically my daylight hours starts and ends with doing the chickens. The Seramas are as enchanting as ever; tiny, clockwork like movement, fluffy bundles of feathers they run around at my feet and are one big social group. I let them out of their run while I do the various jobs around the barn and they love exploring, but never too far from me :) If one gets separated it is very upset and squawks madly until it is reunited with the flock.

They are very attached to their run, though and after 10 mins or so will all troop back inside, without any chivvying from me :)

Next I see to the "big girls" all five have settled down to a happy, mostly-non-pecking, pecking order and are content in each others company. I am getting 4 eggs most days and several times a week all 5 lay so we have lots of eggs available. Which is a good thing for me as on The Harcombe Diet they are handy to have to eat lol. Five hens is a good number for us to have I have found. The sixth hen, Amber Poppet, was too poorly to recover from her recent illness despite the antibiotic treatment, so I sent her gently on her way one evening. Sad but neccessary.

Then it is time to see to Juniper the last remaining Guinea pig. She is quite old now so does not move around a lot but loves a cuddle and to be brought into the house and sat on a lap for a while. We try to talk to her as much as we can and not leave her to be lonely.

I am always accompanied by Cassie my furry cat familiar when I go out to see the animals. She loves to come for walks with me and always dashes to the gate before me so she can jump up on the gatepost and give me a kiss. We all watched the BBC Horizon Secret life of cats TV series last week and it made for very interesting viewing - I think our cats would show up, if tracked, as farm catsbut with lots of lazing around in the house as well.

The rest of the day at the moment is spent on any number of the following; washing, tidying, sorting out stuff, working outside, cleaning out one or both chicken houses and runs although I try to stagger this job, having a bit of Fb and blog time at lunchtime; cleaning, helping Compostman, mending, sorting out my clothes which are TOO BIG ( joy) taking in my clothes which are TOO BIG (if I can), a bit of archery practise, picking veg and fruit (although that is tailing off now) and maybe some composting. A mixture of inside and outside work and fun throughout the day.

Some days are wet so most of the jobs apart from the essentials are inside ones; some days we go out to shop or to a museum or library.

In the evening after doing the reverse chickens- guinea pig routine I watch TV, read, craft, chat to the family and do more stuff on the computer. The woodburner has been lit for the last week or so, now so the evening are very cosy in our sitting room.

I am really please with the weight loss :) But sad I let myself get that fat :( Wheat is my problem and cutting it out and going low carb has made a huge difference :) I love "home" days tbh. Am a home loving sort of Compostwoman